Animation Technique Page

Animation is where there is a string of images put together to make it look like a moving image at the end. There are many different software paths that you can use to create this, however in my case when I made my animation I used Imovie which was downloaded on the Mac I was using prior to me doing this.

Firstly you must decide what you are going to animate, there isn't really a set rule for what you can and can’t animate, however you must think if it will make good viewing, the best type of thing to do would be an everyday activity that can be related to, and there must be some movement, there is no point doing an animation if it isn't going to move. Once you've decided what you are going to animate you need to section this out in a storyboard like way, you need to decide how many pictures you will need for this to work and to look good, this is to prepare you for shooting so you don’t waste time when shooting, and you also don’t come back in with holes in your animation.

Next you go out to shoot, this would look better if you had another person as your subject as the movement is easier to capture and it adds substance to what you are shooting, making it more interesting. This is where the story board idea comes in handy, you can then just go and choose your setting that fits what you want to shoot, and you follow the story board, depending on how long the animation is will vary the time in-between your shots being taken which should be around 1-3 seconds.

The hardest part of the process of animation is the editing to get the end result that you want for your animation. I am using Imovie, so for this I need to import all pictures into my software and then place them in the editing line, where we can put these pictures together, you must ensure that you put the pictures in order so the animation runs smoothly and makes sense. This is where you have to use your guessing skills, dependent on how long you want your animation to be, you have to chose how quickly you want the pictures to move, for my video I found that just under half a second ran smoothly, but mine was a big animation, whereas if it is shorter you may want the pictures further apart. With Imovie you can also add sounds to the animation, however if none of these sounds are what you are looking for you can import music into the software and add parts of this into your animation by placing it into the editing line, and cropping it to make sure it fits in with the timing you want.